I have a 1966 Ford F100, it has trouble being shifted into park, it will a few feet before it kicks into gear. Even though I hate to I took it to a garage to have it fixed a couple months ago. They told me that they had fixed the shifting problem fixed but slowly the problem is reacquiring it started out just having to be shifted very hard into park, and now only if you slam it will it not roll. I am totally at a loss on what is the problem especially since I took it to a mechanic when I was previously at whits end, any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

Consider: How many mechanics today recall how the operation (not to mention all the parts involved), of placing the shift lever into Park actually works...on a transmission that hasn't been used since 1967?

Normal operation: You lift the lever slightly...then move it into the Park position.

Are you saying that the lever, once placed into Park, doesn't hold? And you have to try it several times before it will stay in Park?

Or...you cannot get the lever to go into Park...at all...unless you fiddle around with the shift lever several times?

Here are two possible causes and effects of why you are having this problem:

1) People tend to put the shift lever into Park before setting the hand brake. This causes the truck to roll...just enough...that the Parking Pawl inside the transmission locks up tight.

Now, the lever has to be yanked out of Park to free up the parking pawl.

Bolted to the bottom of the upper steering column flange is a half moon shaped spring steel detent (C5TZ7A216A) aka shift gate.

The shift lever has a tab on it that fits into each individual gate: \ P I R I N I D I D I L /

Over time, yanking the lever out of Park snaps off the gate between Park snd Reverse.

So..when this occurs, only a small piece of the gate remains, so getting the lever to stay in Park, without it slipping into Reverse is a problem.
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2) The parking pawl itself (B4AZ7A441A) is worn, bent, or cracked...caused by yanking the shift lever out of Park.

When this occurs, you have to play with the shift lever before the parking pawl takes hold.

There are myriad other parts that connect to the parking pawl, including a roll pin, hairpin coil spring, and a serrated pin. Any, or all of these parts could be the problem.

Illustration Section A73, Page 2 (352/Cruise-O-Matic) / Section A73, Page 4 (240/300 C4) in the 1964/72 Ford Truck Parts Catalog shows the entire setup.

I suggest you look at the correct illustration to see what is involved. This catalog is available on a CD from hipoparts.com for around $22.00.

 

It does go into park just fine, it will be completely stopped and will slightly roll. Sometimes you can feel it try to click in a few times before it actually does